14 DAY TRIAL // The NASA Kennedy Space Center (KSC) employee that fell to his death from a launch pad catwalk did so on purpose, an investigation revealed. The man committed suicide by jumping from a passageway connecting Launch Pad 39A to the space shuttle Endeavour.
James D. Vanover, 53, ended his own life on March 14, by taking a leap from a very tall portion of the launch pad. Records indicate that he worked at NASA for more than 28 years.
The man's colleagues were deeply saddened by his death, and they are now learning that they were put through such an ordeal intentionally. Florida's Brevard County Medical Examiner established that the death was not an accident.
The experience Vanover had with handling himself around a space shuttle and the tall structures at the launch pad certainly speaks to support this point of view. Security cameras around the area of the accident captured footage of the man jumping from Level 215, which is 130 feet (40 meters) high.
A detailed autopsy conducted on the body revealed traces of antidepressant medication. A medical history check revealed a clinical history of depression. The man was also worried about going blind, his family and friends added.
To top it all off, he was recently fired from the workplace. As the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) comes to a halt, 30 years after it started, thousands of workers at the KSC and nearby are being laid off.
“Obviously, we're saddened by bringing up his death once again, having to reopen a wound that’s not totally healed yet, but people are professionals, they're doing their jobs and are personally mourning for him and his family,” told Space Allard Beutel, a spokesman for NASA.
County medical examiner Dr. Sajid Qaiser wrote in the autopsy report that Vanover “had a note in his wallet to his wife and children, telling them that he was going blind from HBP and did not want to be a burden to them.”
Investigations conducted in parallel by NASA revealed that the worker had been very depressed lately, and that he had been drinking heavily. He was laid off by United Space Alliance, the main contractor on the SSP, 2 to 3 weeks before his suicide.
The company was forced to let about 2,800 of its workers go, and Vanover was one of them. The man initially agreed to a compensated layoff, but then changed his mind. However, he could not get his job back.